Sale 5 Toulon 15: Peter Stringer flies back from Anthony Foley’s funeral to help Sharks shake up French giants but Magnus Lund’s early yellow is costly

Ex-Ireland star played 80 minutes after Sale laid on a plane to enable him to attend the service of his former colleague

By WALLY DOWNES JR

22nd October 2016, 1:06 am

Updated: 22nd October 2016, 1:11 am

EX-IRELAND star Peter Stringer flew back from the funeral of Anthony Foley to help Sale shake up Toulon.
Stringer played 80 minutes after Sale laid on a plane to enable him to attend the service of his former colleague near Limerick.

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Peter Stringer passes the ball from a scrum as he played for 80 minutes after flying back from a funeral

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Charles Ollivon holds off a tackle from Sale veteran Peter Stringer in a tough Euro encounter

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Leigh Halfpenny helps Toulon overcome Sale in the Champions Cup

And the scrum-half said: “I am sure everything will hit me now. But I wanted to play tonight.”
But Sale paid for the fifth-minute yellow carding of flanker Magnus Lund after a late tackle.
Toulon scored 15 points in his absence, Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny converting his own try, slotting a penalty and then converting another score by Charles Ollivon.
Sale boss Steve Diamond said: “You can’t go down to 14 men against sides like Toulon — they will punish you.”
Sale fought back once Lund returned and cut the deficit through a try from wing Paolo Odogwu.
They then dominated the second half but the gamble of ignoring penalty goal chances failed.

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Will Addison tries to get to grips with Toulon as Sale paid for an early yellow card

Sale pressed the Toulon line but spilled the ball or lost possession.
Diamond said: “We stood toe to toe with them but didn’t have enough bullets in the gun.
“We had field position in the last 20 minutes but they counteracted our drive. There were a lot of young English lads who stood their corner.
“If we could have got over from one of those drives it would have made an interesting last ten minutes.”
Toulon hung on but Halfpenny admitted: “Sale pushed us all the way.
“We were good for the first 20 but then we just slipped off that level.”